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The Hostage
The Hostage was the second episode of Season 3 of Night Court, also the 37th overall series episode. Written by Bob Stevens, and directed by Jeff Melman, the episode, which aired on NBC-TV, first aired on October 3, 1985. Synopsis A strange man charged with stealing electronic parts takes Dan hostage and demands the rest of the parts he needs to communicate with his home planet of Saturn. Storyline A man claiming to be from Saturn holds the court hostage with a stolen handgun. Dan's hot date with Sheila goes awry when he inadvertently eats drugged food meant for the man. Plot Summary Hauled into court for stealing electronic communication components, a man named Mr. Plotkin, (Kenneth Tigar) claiming to be from the planet Saturn, pulls out a gun stolen from the evidence table which belonged to a group of subway commuters who threatened a French tourist who simply asked for change for a dollar! He then holds the enitre courtroom hostage. This proves to be most inconvenient for Dan (John Larroquette), who has finally managed to line up a date with his latest object of affectionm, a woman named Sheila, a new person who just began working in the records' office (Leslie Bevis). Things get worse when the wrong person consumes the drugged meat intended to incapactite the self-proclaimed "Saturnian". On Saturn, as Plotkin's obviously disturbed mind claims, there's no hatred, no famine, no pollution of rivers and tearing down of forests, and where wars are prevented with bowling tournaments, and when Christine asks him if there was anyone whom the court could contact, he says only his parents, who moved back into "the old neighborhood", the "seventh moon on Saturn", that is! Dan, being his usually sleazy self, takes the moment of duress as an opportunity to tell Christine that he always "undressed her with his mind ever since the first days he laid eyes on her", and that they "would have been incredible together!", as she responds, "Harry always promised me your parking space!" Dan, who also uses the situation as an opportunity to arrange a date with a Sheila a new person in the Records office, but it goes awry when he inadvertently eats drugged food, a danish, meant for Slotkin. Harry is able to decipher Slotkin's description of Saturn as confusion with an idea of a "Utopia" as when, in trying to fix his "transmitter", it blows a fuse out in the courthouse, (he claims it was his people communicating with him, that they they'' "healed" him by affecting a ''"large scale tranferrence of energy" which "repaired his Earth adaptaion devices"!) as then a paramedic (Nat Bernstein) offers him a residence in Bellvue Mental Hospital! Cast (in credits order) Starring *Harry Anderson as Harold T. Stone *Charles Robinson as Mac Robinson *John Larroquette as Dan Fielding *Markie Post as Christine Sullivan *Richard Moll as Bull Shannon *Florence Halop as Florence Kleiner Guest stars/Recurring characters/cast * Kenneth Tigar as Mr. Slotkin * Lyman Ward as Commander Tucker * Leslie Bevis as Sheila * Nat Bernstein as Paramedic * Ralph Manza as Subway Commuter * Tessa Richarde as Hooker #1 * Joy Garrett as Hooker #2 * Charlotte Portney as Court Stenograper (Uncredited) Category:Season 3 episodes Category:Episodes